Introduction For a number of my upcoming projects I need a rig to test the functionality of a solid state relay that would be driven by a microcontroller and switch the mains for other devices. Having done projects with similar requirements in the past I remembered how much pain it …
Finished unit mounted on the wall, in use. Introduction This project, like others before, has started out of need: our 30+ year old mechanical timer for the central heater of the house has finally given it up. It would have been faster and cheaper to get a replacement from the …
Introduction Towards the end of the ’80s, when I started out in electronics, one day I decided to make a special alarm clock: one, that, when the time comes, switches on some device in my room – be it a radio, TV or anything else. At the time microcontrollers were …
Introduction In the eighties most TV sets did not have the sleep function that is standard on today’s TVs. My grandfather was known to fall asleep about 5 minutes into watching any program on TV in the evening. Then, the TV would go on all night long. Those TVs in …
Introduction About a year ago we bought a new washing machine which seems to work nice, but it lacks a very important feature: it doesn’t notify me when the washing is done. I usually start a new load in the morning and, even though the programs usually finish in about an …
Introduction I have a few projects in mind for the near future which all have one thing in common – they all require remote controls to be operated. So I decided to experiment with remote controls a bit. A small selection of my huge pile of never or a very long …
I was recently given a very old, dead laptop. I soon took it apart to see what parts I could salvage, what parts I could reuse in my projects. Among the numerous parts there was one that I was interested the most: the mouse pad or touchpad. I was wondering …
Introduction At the time of writing this article I cannot really recall why I started out on this project in the first place. Maybe, because some time ago I was experimenting with the built-in analogue-digital converters of some PIC micros and was thinking that they could be used easily to …
Introduction I have been quite satisfied with the desktop power supply I made from an old PC power supply. My only problem with is that it takes up a lot of space on my desk. I have been long thinking how I could reduce its size and finally I realized …